I learned the other day from our local pharmacist that capsicum is one of
the ingredients in a cream used to alleviate the pain of shingles. Has
anyone tried this OR just rubbing a cut, raw capsicum onto their skin?!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 24 Jan, 13:15, Sacha wrote:
I learned the other day from our local pharmacist that capsicum is one of
the ingredients in a cream used to alleviate the pain of shingles. *Has
anyone tried this OR just rubbing a cut, raw capsicum onto their skin?!

You can't rub capsicum in a cut, it will burn! It is used to bring a
sensation of warmth to muscle pains and thus aleviate the pain. Most
of the rub on cream on the market have capsicum in them.

wrote in message
...
On 24 Jan, 13:15, Sacha wrote:
I learned the other day from our local pharmacist that capsicum is one of
the ingredients in a cream used to alleviate the pain of shingles. Has
anyone tried this OR just rubbing a cut, raw capsicum onto their skin?!

You can't rub capsicum in a cut, it will burn! It is used to bring a
sensation of warmth to muscle pains and thus aleviate the pain. Most
of the rub on cream on the market have capsicum in them.

I got chilli in a cut a couple of years ago, it made me say ever such a
naughty word :-)

Steve

On 24 Jan, 14:06, "shazzbat"
wrote:
I got chilli in a cut a couple of years ago, it made me say ever such a
naughty word :-)

I ususally practice my French when I get hurt like that ... ;o)

On 24/1/08 14:06, in article , "shazzbat"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
On 24 Jan, 13:15, Sacha wrote:
I learned the other day from our local pharmacist that capsicum is one of
the ingredients in a cream used to alleviate the pain of shingles. Has
anyone tried this OR just rubbing a cut, raw capsicum onto their skin?!

You can't rub capsicum in a cut, it will burn! It is used to bring a
sensation of warmth to muscle pains and thus aleviate the pain. Most
of the rub on cream on the market have capsicum in them.

I got chilli in a cut a couple of years ago, it made me say ever such a
naughty word :-)

Steve


I don't know what this cream is, Steve except that it's on prescription.
It's for shingles (not mine!) that don't have a rash but even then, I think
it must be quite diluted by the other ingredients.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| I don't know what this cream is, Steve except that it's on prescription.
| It's for shingles (not mine!) that don't have a rash but even then, I think
| it must be quite diluted by the other ingredients.

Well, yes. The principle is to stimulate the nerves more-or-less
continuously, so the body suppresses the itching or pain. It can
help, and does less damage than scratching.

A neurologist might explain the process in more detail, but that
is most of what I know.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 24/1/08 14:53, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| I don't know what this cream is, Steve except that it's on prescription.
| It's for shingles (not mine!) that don't have a rash but even then, I think
| it must be quite diluted by the other ingredients.

Well, yes. The principle is to stimulate the nerves more-or-less
continuously, so the body suppresses the itching or pain. It can
help, and does less damage than scratching.

A neurologist might explain the process in more detail, but that
is most of what I know.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Interesting. It sounds almost homeopathic! I know there are tablets which
can be taken but I'd never heard of a cream before. I thought most soothing
creams contain Calendula, so I was interested to hear of Capsicum being used
just because it is so astringent.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 24 Jan, 15:11, Steve Wolstenholme
wrote:
Axain is a fairly new capsicum cream. It is a very effective pain
killer but the stronger types are prescription only. It works on
neuropathic pain and that is what you have post shingles. It can make
shingles more painful when the cream is first applied. I don't think
that raw capsicum is a good idea because the strength can vary so much
from nothing to untouchable! Capsicum cream is not that new, the old
Fiery Jack contains capsicum.

We shouldn't confuse those two plants - Calendula is for dry irritated
skin, eczema, and has anti inflamatory properties, it soothes. Whereas
Capsicum has a heating effect, for rheumatoid arthritis, sciatica,
lumbago and other muscular pains. Capsicum has been in creams for as
long as I can remember. The most common one in my childhood was called
Vegebum. Fierce fiery thing that was. Threatened with it and I used to
get better instantly !

Sacha wrote:
I learned the other day from our local pharmacist that capsicum is
one of the ingredients in a cream used to alleviate the pain of
shingles. Has anyone tried this OR just rubbing a cut, raw capsicum
onto their skin?!

This review is a little bit out-of-date, but may be informative:
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/bo...ges/CP063.html

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)

In article ,
says...
On 24/1/08 14:53, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| I don't know what this cream is, Steve except that it's on prescription.
| It's for shingles (not mine!) that don't have a rash but even then, I think
| it must be quite diluted by the other ingredients.

Well, yes. The principle is to stimulate the nerves more-or-less
continuously, so the body suppresses the itching or pain. It can
help, and does less damage than scratching.

A neurologist might explain the process in more detail, but that
is most of what I know.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Interesting. It sounds almost homeopathic! I know there are tablets which
can be taken but I'd never heard of a cream before. I thought most soothing
creams contain Calendula, so I was interested to hear of Capsicum being used
just because it is so astringent.

It's nothing like homoeopathic! It contains a chemical, capsaicin, which
stops the nerves sending the pain signals back to the brain.
--
Linz
Wet Yorks

In article ,
Amethyst Deceiver writes:
|
| It's nothing like homoeopathic! It contains a chemical, capsaicin, which
| stops the nerves sending the pain signals back to the brain.

Er, that's not how capsaicin works!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 24 Jan, 16:25, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,Am ethyst Deceiver writes:

|
| It's nothing like homoeopathic! It contains a chemical, capsaicin, which
| stops the nerves sending the pain signals back to the brain.

Er, that's not how capsaicin works!

Well, she's right. It's not homeopathy and has nothing to do with
homeopathy! According to BMJ about arthritis, capsaicin acts on the
nerve endings in the skin that feel pain. These nerve endings produce
a chemical called substance P that's partly responsible for making you
feel pain (via the brain). Capsaicin depletes the nerve endings'
supply of substance P and stops you from feeling so much pain from
your joint.

In article ,
Steve Wolstenholme writes:
|
| How does it work? Is this it? I would suspect that the capsaicin
| burning pain causes neurons to get a bit low on some neurotransmitter.
| The burning pain fades away and there is still a reduction in the
| neurotransmitter. Not a lot left to tell the brain about the
| post-herpetic neuralgia caused by the shingles.

That's right, at least according to the Web.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 24/1/08 17:48, in article 9933305.IMYVxTXGAO@moc-ehzniabis-001ixoaix,
"Zhang DaWei" wrote:

On Thursday 24 Jan 2008 15:11, Steve Wolstenholme
) wrote:

Capsicum cream is not that new, the old
Fiery Jack contains capsicum.

Indeed, I am using some capsicum at this very moment, although in my case,
it is a capsicum-impregnated "sticky cloth" which is applied over the area
that is painful (in my case an injury of the right heel). This particular
remedy is one used for many years by doctors in China, and I was prescribed
it by my father-in-law who is a leading practitioner of Chinese medicine in
his province.

Thanks to all of you. I found Fiery Jack when I looked this up on the
Internet. The Capsicum creams seem to be effective, according to those I've
read who use it. One site seemed to suggest that it - sort of - gave the
body something else to think about!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Capsicum contains approximately 20-27 species, and it is used in modern medicine — mainly in topical medications — as a circulatory stimulant and pain reliever.

Among them, black pepper and Sichuan pepper cause similar burning sensations, they are caused by different substances. So if you want to use capsicum as skin treatment, you have to pick the right ones.